Westinghouse Electric Company and Blue Castle Holdings has announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding to pursue the development of a two-unit AP1000 nuclear power plant at the Green River site in Utah.

Under the agreement, the companies will work together to develop a scope of activities for enabling the Blue Castle Project under a definitive agreement, including marketing, nuclear safety licensing, permitting, design, engineering, procurement, construction, installation, commissioning, startup, testing, nuclear fuel, refueling, operation and maintenance of the two-unit plant.

"This agreement continues the trend in the selection of our AP1000 plant technology for new nuclear energy projects around the world," said Jeff Benjamin, Westinghouse senior vice president, Nuclear Power Plants.

"The safety and constructability of our advanced passive design, combined with the preparation and early siting work completed by Blue Castle, give customers assurance of licensability and project delivery that is unmatched by other alternatives."

"The Blue Castle Project is now moving to the next phase of its development by pursuing Westinghouse's AP1000 reactor technology for our Green River site. The executed MOU continues to implement the Blue Castle stepwise approach to risk reduction and favorable economics for utilities and ratepayers," said Aaron Tilton, Blue Castle CEO.

"The Blue Castle Project success is rooted in the support we have received from the public, state and local governments to deploy clean, predictable, long-term nuclear electricity generation."

More than 2,500 jobs are expected to be created for construction of the two units and about 1,000 permanent, full-time employees will work at the plant during its 60-year operating life.

The low-cost baseload power generated by the Blue Castle Project will support regional economic growth well beyond the immediate construction and operation jobs, while also providing the environmental benefit of zero carbon emissions.

Eight AP1000 units are currently under construction worldwide: two each at the Vogtle and V.C. Summer sites in the U.S. and the Sanmen and Haiyang sites in China.

In addition, shareholder agreements have been signed in the past few months for the development of AP1000 plants at the Moorside site in the United Kingdom and the Kozloduy site in Bulgaria.